The Nation's First
by KP009
Summary: She began to ask herself what really happened this morning. Why did she get sick? It reminded her of when she was pregnant and the morning sickness she got. Wait. The morning sickness. Oh no.
1. Guilty

A/N: I just wanted to start off by saying that I had the ideas for this story and began writing before RedStateCICfan posted. I don't intend for this to be as good as that, because I really have enjoyed it. But I don't want people to think I copied the idea (including the part about asking Kelly to get a test), I really came up with those parts on my own. Right, so on with the show.

"Madame President?" Jim Gardner, White House Chief of Staff noticed his boss seemed to be tuning out the morning security briefing.

"Oh, yes." MacKenzie Allen had in fact not been paying the slightest bit of attention. There was no new information being presented, and a sudden wave of nausea had just come over her.

"Are you alright ma'am?"

"Yes, I just" and then she could feel it coming. "Excuse me." She got up from the couch and almost ran out a side door to the Oval into the bathroom, leaving the men in the Oval rather stunned.

The President returned a few minutes later, still looking flustered. "I'm sorry about that, I think I might be coming down with a bug. Where were we?" She tried to sound as convincing as possible.

"Well, we…" the National Security Advisor started to answer.

"We were just finishing up, ma'am." Jim made eye contact with the NSA telling him 'yes, we're done.'

Everyone in the room stood and thanked the President for her time. Jim stayed back. He crossed the room to shut the door behind the departing gentlemen. Closing the door, he turned to the President. "Ma'am, are you sure you're okay, you…"

Mac held up her hand to stop him. She nodded, "I'm fine Jim, really, thank you."

That was his cue to leave. "Thank you Madame President." As he headed down the hall to his own office, he ran across the First Gentleman, Rod Calloway, coming out of the Roosevelt Room.

"Hey Jim." Rod acknowledged the Chief of Staff. Although they didn't get along as if they were best friends, they respected each other, and their roles in supporting the President.

"Rod, I'm glad I ran into you." Jim told Rod about the incident in the Oval. Before he could finish, Rod had begun to walk away, towards the Oval Office.

"Good Morning Mr. Calloway," Vince Taylor, the President's personal aide greeted him as he entered the outer office.

"Morning Vince, is she?" Rod pointed to the door.

"Yeah, go ahead."

Mac was sitting behind her desk with her head in her hands. She looked up when she heard the door open. As soon as she saw her husband, she knew why he was there. Jim had rated her out. She figured he wasn't to blame, it's not every day that the President of the United States just runs out of a meeting to get sick.

"I'm _fine_" she stressed before he could even shut the door behind himself.

"Well there's a preemptive strike if I've ever seen one. You don't even know what I came in here for."

Mac just gave her husband that look that said 'oh, please.' "Okay, sorry, what did you need?"

Rod grinned, "I came to see if you were okay." By this time he had breached the gap between them and was sitting on her desk in front of her. Mac just slapped his knee and he pretended to be hurt. "What, I can't ask my wife how she's doing this lovely day?"

Mac leaned back in her chair. "You can, but one, this is no lovely day Rod, look outside." She was right, it was rather dark outside and it had been raining since the early morning. "And second, you can't when you already have consulted with my Chief of Staff."

"Okay, but really, what happened?"

"I don't know. I was listening to the briefing and then I just suddenly felt very sick."

"Was it something you ate?"

"Unless someone poisoned my coffee, I don't think so."

"Hmm, but you really feel okay now?"

"Yes, I promise."

"Because we can clear your schedule, you can go back up to the Residence and rest."

"Unfortunately we both know that this job doesn't allow for sick days, Rod."

There was a knock at the door before Vince peeked in. "Ma'am the minority whip is here."

"Just give me a minute then send him in." Mac turned to her husband. "See? Time to go back to work. I'm really okay, I feel 100 better now."

"Okay," Rod stood up, still skeptical. "Call for me if you need me, okay?" After Mac nodded he headed out the side door.

After her meeting with Senator Tallman, Mac headed to the kitchenette to get some more coffee. She ran into Jim doing the same.

"You tattled on me." She approached him with a smile, which relieved his apprehension at the remark.

"Guilty."

After he left, she sat down at the table. She began to ask herself what really happened this morning. Why did she get sick? It reminded her of when she was pregnant and the morning sickness she got. Wait. The morning sickness. Oh no.

Suddenly, she couldn't think. She needed to talk to Rod. Walking back through the outer office to the Oval she asked Vince to tell the First Gentleman to meet her in the Residence. And she asked him to clear what he could of her schedule. With that she practically dove out the door onto the portico, startling the agent posted there. She walked as fast as she could, not even noticing the rain blowing in that was beginning to get her wet.

Back in the Residence, Rod rushed into their bedroom. "Are you feeling sick again?"

Mac was sitting on the edge of the bed, staring blankly out the window. "No, but I think I know why I got sick."

"Was it the poisoned coffee?" This made her laugh.

"No. I think it might be your fault." Rod didn't say anything, he just went and sat beside her.

"Do you know what I'm talking about?"

"No."

"Think."

He tried. How could he make his wife sick. Unless it was morning sickness. Wait. Oh no.

"Wait. You mean?"

"Uh-huh."

"Are you sure?"

"Not yet."

"Oh." Rod now joined his wife in staring blankly at the wall. After a minute or so, Mac broke the silence.

"What are we going to do?" Rod was silent, so she continued to voice her anxiety. "We can't be parents again, not right now. Hell, not ever again. We're too old. Not to mention the minor detail of me being the President of the United States." Before she could continue with her reasons why they couldn't be having another baby, Rod turned to face her and held her face in his hands.

"Hey. Hey. Listen to me. We _can_ do this, and we _will_ do this. Let's find out for sure before we go freaking out."

"Okay."

"Okay."

**A/N:** That's it for now, I need to go to sleep. I hope to have more up very soon. Please let me know what you think.


	2. Iranians and Press Secretaries

**A/N: Here's the next chapter. Sorry if it's short. I ran out of time for writing (I'm a college student, I can only spend so much time avoiding homework, sadly) and I wanted to get this up, keep testing the waters. Please review, I really like constructive feedback, but if you just want to praise (I'm hopeless, I know) or flame me that's cool too. Until next time. KP**

**Oh, and a big thanks to Lady Urguentha for being the first to review!**

_Previously on "Nation's First."_

"Hey. Hey. Listen to me. We _can_ do this, and we _will_ do this. Let's find out for sure before we go freaking out."

"Okay."

"Okay."

_**Iranians and Press Secretaries**_

The ringing bedside phone pulled the husband and wife back into reality. It was already time to go back into Presidential mode.

"Yeah? Is it urgent? I'm on my way." She turned to her husband, "I have to go down to the Sit Room, but obviously we'll talk about this when I'm done."

Still a bit out of it Rod didn't reply until she was almost out the door. "Right. Hey Mac." She turned, "I love you."

"I love you more," and with that the President was gone.

The Marines at the door stiffened and opened the doors to the Situation Room as they saw their Commander in Chief approaching at a brisk pace. She didn't look happy.

"Attention." Everyone in the room scrambled to the feet, the military members stiff as boards. Normally Mac didn't care too much for the formality, but she wasn't too happy about the disruption to her personal situation. She crossed the room and waited until she had sat down at the head of the long table before telling them to sit.

"What's up?"

"Ma'am, we've gathered some new and very convincing intelligence on Iran's nuclear program."

"What kind of intelligence."

"We've received shipping manifests of just about every item they'd need to get their program active." The CIA director chimed in.

"Satellites also are showing movement of what we think is nuclear cargo to the suspected sites of weaponization," her National Security Advisor added.

"What are you recommending?" This was the last thing she needed right now, a standoff with Iran. She knew it had been too quiet in the Middle East these past few weeks. She had been hoping it would stay that way for a bit longer.

"We are coming up with some diplomatic and military options right now." The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs knew that she wanted to hear they had something, not that they were working on it.

Wanting to get back to the Residence to deal with the only thing that was really on her mind, she stood. As everyone followed suit she looked around the room, "Okay, I want those options in two hours. And I'd prefer the diplomatic route."

There was a chorus of "Yes ma'am" and "Thank You ma'am," as she made her way out of the Sit Room. As she started up the stairs, Jim caught up with her. "Are you okay ma'am? You seemed a bit," he hesitated a moment "hassled." The President stopped and turned to him.

"Did I?" She asked sounding genuinely concerned. "Sorry, I just…I guess I'm not feeling as well as I thought." She wasn't about to tell anyone, including her Chief of Staff what she thought might be happening. She couldn't really even say it to herself. 'I might be pregnant.' There, that wasn't so hard.

"We can postpone this until tomorrow if you'd like, there's no _immediate _threat." He stressed the 'immediate.' No one could deny that Iran and nuclear weapons were indeed a threat.

"Call me in two hours, we'll see." With that she took a right down the hall to head back to the Residence.

As she walked into the residence she ran into Horace who was heading to his room.

"Hey Mom," he greeted her, a smile coming across his face when he saw her. Since she had taken on the Vice Presidency he had seen less and less of her. Now that she was the President, it was a treat to see her for more than five minutes at a time. He was proud of his mom, and he wouldn't ever want her to not be President, but inside he missed her.

"Hey baby," she kissed his forehead. "Did you just get back?"

"Yeah, I had practice. Hey, do you think you and dad will be able to make it to a meet this year?"

"Well…"

"I mean, I know you're busy and all, and the whole Secret Service thing, but it would be really cool, and I know Becca would appreciate it too."

"Well, we'll see. Hey, I told your dad I would meet him, but I'll see you at dinner."

"Okay."

She cherished any time she had to be with her kids, but she really needed to get back to Rod. When she walked into the First Couple's bedroom, she found Rod pacing by the window.

"Did you stay here this whole time?"

He glanced at his watch. "Yeah, you've only been gone 15 minutes."

"Oh." She let out a sigh, "it felt like much longer."

"What was the problem?"

"Oh, just Iran."

"Did you just say 'just Iran'? Because last time I checked anything that brought you to the Sit Room was bad, especially Iran."

"I know, sorry, I'm just a bit preoccupied right now."

Rod walked up to her and held her close. Stroking her hair he tried to comfort her, and himself. "I know, but like I said we can do this."

Moving over to the sofa they sat together. "So what are we going to do? I mean we need to be sure before we do anything else." Rod nodded, "How on earth am I going to do that."

"Well, let's just call for the motorcade and head down to the nearest drug store. I'll wait in the car while you and ten Secret Service agents run into the place, grab a pregnancy test." He meant to make Mackenzie laugh. She wasn't laughing.

"Thanks Rod, thanks for taking this seriously." She looked like she was about to shed a tear.

"Hey," he said enveloping her in another embrace. "I'm sorry, I just thought you could use a little humor. If you are pregnant, we should be happy, and nothing else."

She pulled back to look at him, "You're right. And I am, or I will be, it's just scary enough as it is, at our age, never mind my job."

"Okay, so how should we do this? We could have a doctor come here, try to keep it from the press."

"That's unlikely."

"Or the Surgeon General. It wouldn't look suspicious having him come here."

"It would if he came to the Residence. Do you want him to examine me in the Oval Office?"

"No, no, you're right. Could we have someone get a test for us?"

Mac was still for a moment. "Yes! I'll ask Kelly, obviously I'll have to be straight with her, but I we can really trust her." Mackenzie was already on her feet, headed for the door.

"Where are you going? You don't have to be in the Sit Room for another two hours."

"How did you know that?" She had stopped in her tracks and turned. "I didn't tell you that."

Rod cracked a smile. "I just know things."

It only took her a second, "Jim called you."

"Yeah, he told me you had left, and asked me if you were okay. He cares about you."

"Yeah." She turned to leave again.

"You didn't answer my question. Where are you going?"

"To have a private conversation with my favorite Press Secretary." And then she was gone.


	3. Sarah the Saint

**A/N: I tried to make it a bit longer, but I'm writing at sporadic times during the day, and I know when I read stories I'm always so eager for an update, I guess I just appreciate frequent updates. So here it is…part 3. To be honest, I don't have any idea how long (or short) this might be, or what will even happen. I'm just going with whatever keys my fingers decide to hit. And a big thank you, again, to all those who have reviewed. If there's anything you don't like, or have any suggestions for improvement, I'm all for it. **

_Previously on "Nation's First."_

"You didn't answer my question. Where are you going?"

"To have a private conversation with my favorite Press Secretary." And then she was gone.

_**Sarah the Saint**_

It wasn't often that the President of the United States came to _her_ office. Usually it was the other way around, so Kelly Ludlow, speech writer turned Press Secretary to the first female President, was admittedly surprised to see her boss leaning in her doorway. She stood from where she had been leaning on her desk looking at one of the many televisions in her office. "Madame President."

"Hi Kelly. Mind if I come in?"

A bit curious as to why the President was here and now asking if she could come in, Kelly motioned her in with an "Of course." Mac took a seat in one of the chairs by her desk. Kelly now hovered by her own chair.

"I wanted to talk."

"Talk?" She knew the President pretty well; she had been working for her for over two years now. It wasn't that she was uncomfortable around Mackenzie Allen, it was just that she wasn't exactly sure where the relationship should fall between President and Press Secretary.

"Yeah. We haven't just talked in a while." Mac really didn't know how to break the ice for what she was planning to ask. "I miss those late nights of chatting we had while we were working on speeches."

Kelly just nodded her head. She was completely at a loss.

"Well actually, I want to tell you something, and then I want to ask you something."

"You say jump, I'll jump," she responded without hesitation. She really looked up to this woman. Not just because she was the President, or because she was a great politician, but because she was a great person, a woman who didn't compromise when it came to what she believed in.

Mac let out a brief chuckle. "No, it's not like that. Actually, it's more of a personal matter." Kelly didn't say anything. "I'm just going to come right out with this, sorry. It appears that there is a chance I might…" she hesitated.

"Ma'am?"

"I think I may be pregnant." Kelly had been running 'I might' situations through her head since the President had paused. Pregnancy was not on that list.

Not knowing what to say, the best she could come up with before she came across as speechless was "Congratulations." She followed this after a moment with a hesitant, "right?"

"Well, yeah, I suppose so. If it's true. Actually that's the problem. Kelly," she looked straight at the younger woman, "I can't just go to the drugstore, and I can't really schedule a doctor's appointment."

"The press would have a field day." She thought the President was asking her what to do. She was not prepared for Mac's next question.

"So Rod and I discussed it, and well, I was wondering…" She stopped. "Wow, this is really awkward, do you think you could manage to get a pregnancy test for us?"

Kelly had to consciously prevent herself laughing. This was going to be even more awkward. She looked down at her desk than back to her rather anxious looking President. She opened the top right drawer of her desk, shuffled some things around, and then placed a box in front of Mac. It was a small blue and white box with the bold letters **e.p.t.** on it.

Mac looked at the box for a moment and then back at Kelly. The woman had a small and unreadable smile on her face. "Do I even want to know?"

"Truthfully?"

"I don't know." Mac was a bit stunned, she must be getting old. When she was Kelly's age, women kept lip balm and maybe nail polish in their desk drawers, not pregnancy tests.

"I got a package a few weeks ago from a good friend in California. She and her husband had been trying to have a baby for some time. She called me to tell me they were going to have a baby girl. The next day I got this from her. It came with this note." She handed the note to the President, deciding it would be easier for her to read than to try to explain.

_Kelly,_

_As you know, Mark and I are going to be parents! It may sound strange but we had bought half-dozen pregnancy tests while we had been trying. Now that we've got one on the way, I figured you could use this. Think of it as my way of making fun of your pathetic love life. And my reminder to you that work isn't everything, no matter how important your job, as only a friend like me can remind you. Don't roll your eyes, just store it away for the future. And I hope for both our sakes the near future. I can't take too much more of you being single, the phone bills will start to be too much._

_All my love (and undeniable humor),_

_Sarah_

"You really have to know Sarah to understand it I suppose." She realized the President of the United States was reading this strange letter, with no context of the friendship in which to frame it.

"I suppose. Either way, she's a Saint" Mac had the urge to grab the box in front of her and race back to the Residence, but she felt she owed Kelly more than that. "Well I wasn't expecting you to whip one out of your desk, but I really appreciate this. And I don't think I need to say…"

Kelly knew what she was going to say. She started to shake her head, "You absolutely don't ma'am."

Mac rose and smiled at her before turning to leave.

"Good luck," Kelly said quietly as she turned the door handle and disappeared, presumably back to the Residence to use her "gift."

This time as she hurried back into the Residence, she ran into the other twin, Becca. Becca was a smart girl, but she still had plenty of that teenage rebelliousness in her. Mac slipped the box into her pants pocket, and kept her hand over it, hoping her daughter wouldn't notice. She didn't.

"Hey kiddo how was school?" Once again, Mac really wanted to get back to Rod, but she couldn't blow off her daughter, no matter what was going on, and she didn't want to.

"Oh," Becca looked down, "fine, I guess."

Mac reached out and tipped her daughter's head up, "you sure? It was just _fine._"

"Well mom, no one in their right mind _likes_ school. I just," she was cut off. A faux hurt look coming across her mother's face.

"Hey, I loved school!"

Becca just rolled her eyes, "Well, you would. Anyway, are you going to make it to dinner?"

"Wouldn't miss it." Looking at her watch she realized said dinner was in 10 minutes. "I just have to run and um, change."

Becca gave her a bit of a look, her mom usually didn't change out of her suit for dinner, she usually came in, ate and then went back to the West Wing, which of course was if she made it to dinner at all. "Oh, okay."

"See you in a few." With that Mac was back on her objective and made a beeline for the First Bedroom.

Where was Rod? Mac peeked into the bathroom and then threw up her arms in defeat when there was no presence of him. "Rod Calloway, where are you?" She didn't mean to say it so loud, but before she had a chance to make it all the way to the door to go search for him, he popped his head in the door.

"Looking for me?"

"No, I'm looking for my other husband!"

"Oh boy, if you are pregnant, I get to deal with another nine months on the Mackenzie Allen hormonal roller coaster." His wife was now just glaring at him. This only served to further his point, and they both knew it. "What's up? Did you talk to Kelly?"

She pulled the blue and white box out of her pocket. "I did." She held it up to him, smiling.

"Wait, that was fast. Too fast."

"She whipped it out of her desk drawer, I'm serious." Mac could see the utter confusion written all over her husband's face. "Don't ask, let's just do this."

Still a bit shocked, "right, okay. Umm…I guess I'll go stall for you at dinner, and it'll be done by the time we've finished."

"You want me to do it now and wait 'til after dinner?" Mac was almost whining.

"You're actually not busy and its 6:30, how often do you get to enjoy a relaxed family dinner where you don't have to rush back off to work?"

"Okay." She conceded and headed to the bathroom, she felt like she was off to seal her fate. If she was pregnant, and inside she knew she was, life would not be the same, and it would certainly not be easy.

When Rod walked into the dining room, four heads turned to greet him. His youngest daughter, Amy, leaned forward to see around him, disappointment appearing instantly in her eyes. "Mommy's not coming?" It was more of a statement than a question.

"Oh no, sweetie, she is. She's just washing up."

"Oh, okay." After Rod's reassurance the young girl perked right back up.

Just as he had made it to his own seat, Mac appeared around the corner. "Hey everybody." She took the long way around the table, stopping to kiss Amy's forehead, "hey baby." As she passed her own mother, Kate Allen, she brushed her shoulder, "mom." Mackenzie gave her husband a nervous look that said, 'okay, 15 minutes.' She was visibly anxious, because she knew dinner would last longer than that. She wasn't sure how she was going to keep herself or Rod for that matter, from leaping out of her seat and racing to look for that infamous blue stripe.

"Mom, I thought you were going to change?" Becca had instantly noticed the business attire she still donned.

Oops, busted. "Oh, I decided not to Bec, I realized I may need to head back downstairs for a little bit later on.

The family made small talk for most of the meal, asking each other how their days had been. Mac couldn't think of anything that happened except for her revelation, and Iran of course, but she wasn't about to share either of those over dinner with her whole family.

Rather, she took this time to sit back and revel in the happiness and simplicity of the moment. Taking a moment to look at each of her children, she took a moment to reflect on the memory of finding out that she was pregnant with each of them, especially finding out about twins.

And while she was happy to soak up this moment, she couldn't help but think of the pregnancy test that was waiting for her back in her bathroom. She tried to sneak a peek at her watch, 20 minutes had passed. The answer was already there, she just couldn't get to it. Noticing his wife's anxiety, Rod excused himself from the table for a moment.

This sent Mackenzie into a sheer panic for a moment. Was he going to look, without her? He wouldn't do that, would he? But before she had a chance to go after him, he was back. He just smiled at her and took his seat. What was that supposed to mean? Did he look?

Just then a steward cleared his throat at the doorway, "Madame President, there's an urgent phone call for you." Mac frowned, but Rod smiled. When she got to the phone she wasn't happy. If she got called away before she could go look at that damned test, she would send the Army into Iran in a heartbeat. "What?"

"Good evening, ma'am." It was Jim.

"This better be good, Jim." Jim was a bit confused as to her attitude. Understandably she wouldn't be happy to be pulled away from family time, but she had never been cross about it.

"Actually ma'am, I was just asked by Mr. Calloway to give you an 'urgent' call. He mumbled something about 'taking a look' before he hung up."

"Ma'am." No response. "Madame President?" Again, no response. Then the line went silent. Strange.

Mac had broken into a huge grin, never having loved her husband more. She kept herself from full out running to her bathroom. When she got there, she stopped in the door jam, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. She felt a hand on the small of her back. Good, he came, they should do this together.


	4. And Baby Makes Four

**A/N: Fear not, I want to try and keep this as realistic as possible. There will be no jumping the gun…so yes, Mac will be consulting a doctor. However, as I said before I have no idea how this is all going to play out. I think most of it will have to do with the mood I'm in while I write. It's 11:40 pm on my birthday, a Friday night, and I'm writing this chapter before I go to bed and get up at 6 am for a state EMT exam. Hence, this is going to be a short chapter – but I wanted to get _something_ up. Thanks for all the reviews, you guys are awesome.**

_Previously on Nation's First…_

Mac had broken into a huge grin, never having loved her husband more. She kept herself from full out running to her bathroom. When she got there, she stopped in the door jam, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. She felt a hand on the small of her back. Good, he came, they should do this together.

**And Baby Makes Four.**

She slowly stepped forward and picked up the test strip from the vanity. With one last glance into her husband's eyes, Mackenzie Allen examined the trivial piece of plastic. It was amazing how the color of this little stick was going to have an enormously profound impact on her life, the lives of her family, and ultimately, the American people.

The moment she fixed her eyes on it, she knew. There was no mistaking the little blue line. Turning to Rod with a single tear forming in the corner of her left eye she could barely speak. "It's, it's…"

"It's blue," he finished for her. "So baby makes four."

"Oh wow. I…I knew it was going to be positive, but I didn't really consider it. This is wonderful and horrible all at the same time."

"A child is not horrible Mac, it's just horrible timing."

"Right, you know I didn't actually mean the baby."

Rod reached over and grabbed the test from his wife. Placing it back down by the sink he wrapped his arm around his wife and led her over to sit on the bed. "So what's the plan, mom?"

"I have absolutely no idea. I've never felt so clueless in my life."

"Well I've got an idea."

"We start packing now?"

"No, don't be ridiculous."

"What's ridiculous about thinking that I can't be 49, pregnant, and then mother to a newborn while running the most powerful country in the world?"

Rod didn't have an answer. He wasn't even sure if there was an answer, other than packing their bags – but he was determined not to let this get in their way, at least not yet. "Let's hold on for a moment, we don't know what's going to happen. First we need to get a positive test from a doctor, and then we've got months to figure it out."

"You're right," she rested her head on his shoulder. "I'm getting tired of this whole 'making history' deal." This invoked a humored sigh from Rod. He was trying to come up with a witty response when there was a knock at the door.

"Come in."

Slowly the door opened to reveal all three of their children. Mac realized instantly that they had both just disappeared from dinner.

"Was dinner that bad you couldn't even stay?" Kate Allen with a quizzical look coming up behind the children.

Both Mac and Rod looked at one another, "No, no we just…" they both began to answer simultaneously.

"Sorry, we got sidetracked," Rod finished. They didn't need to verbally confer with one another to agree that now was not the time to share the news.

Amy hopped up onto the bed to sit between her parents. Looking up to Mac she asked, "Mommy, do you have to go back to work already?"

Not understanding where she was coming from, "No, why sweetie?"

Horace answered her questions – "oh, well is here. We thought you went back downstairs already until he came in asking where you were."

"Is he still here?" Horace nodded. "Excuse me, I'll be right back." Mackenzie headed out to the main hall in the Residence where Jim would undoubtedly be waiting.

"Jim."

"Madame President, sorry if I'm interrupting anything."

He had no idea. "No, no it's fine, is everything okay?"

"Yes ma'am, I just wanted to let you know that I've scheduled a meeting with the Joint Chiefs and company for tomorrow, so you don't have to worry about that tonight."

"Thanks." She could tell he wanted to ask her more, otherwise he could have just called. She raised her eyebrows slightly to indicate to him that she would field his question.

"I just wanted to see if everything was all right? If you're feeling okay."

"Yes, I think I just had a bug." Mackenzie realized then that she was going to have the same problem tomorrow. "What time did you say that meeting was tomorrow?"

"9 am, right after senior staff."

Knowing that she was going to be getting sick around 8 am, she wanted to avoid a rather public spectacle. "Could you do me a favor and push those both back an hour?"

Not sure as to why the President wanted to start her day any later than normal, he decided to simply acquiesce her request. "Sure, no problem ma'am."

"Anything else?" She wanted to get back to her family.

"No ma'am, thank you. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Goodnight Jim. Oh Jim – has Kelly gone home yet, do you know?"

"I think she's still here, last I saw her she was finishing up her evening briefing."

"Okay, thanks." Mac needed to get her opinion on a few things. She could have easily asked Jim, but that would involve divulging her pregnancy. Kelly already knew. After Jim left, Mac picked up the phone on one of the hall tables.

"White House operator," a petite voice answered on the other end.

"Kelly Ludlow, please."

"One moment ma'am." There was a click and then a ringing. Mac was finally getting used to the way things were done in the White House. She couldn't remember the last time she dialed a phone herself. And she certainly never carried a purse or anything any normal person would carry every day. Of course, most normal people weren't followed around by dozens of armed men and women nor shut down the roads every time they stepped out of the house.

Mac was pulled out of her pondering by Kelly's voice. "Kelly Ludlow."

"Kelly, do you think you could come up to the Residence before you leave for the evening?"

"Of course ma'am, did you need me right now?"

"No, just whenever you are leaving."

"That will probably be in a half hour, ma'am, is that okay?"

"Excellent, thank you." She hung up the phone and headed back to her bedroom. The crowd had dispersed and there was only Rod and her mother chatting on the sofa.

"You scared the kids off?"

Rod gave a mischievous grin, this time he had a witty remark ready. "Nah, I kicked them out, figured we would need the space."

He received a light slap of his shoulder for this, but the real consequence was from Mac's mother.

"Need the space?"

Looking at each other the both nodded. Of course they should tell Kate now. Mac sat down across from her mom and reached out for her hands. "Well mom," she took a quick look at the door to see that it was closed, "what would you say about another grandchild?"

Kate Allen could not remember having ever been as shocked as she was in this moment. "You're, you're pregnant?"

"No mom, we're going to adopt some kittens." Kate frowned at her daughter, "Yes, I'm pregnant."

"But how?" She was just asking for the sarcasm. But she caught herself before Mac could through some more her way. "I mean, are you sure? You two are not as young as you used to be."

"Tell me about it. We're not 100 percent. A test confirmed it today after I got sick this morning, and I'm going to see a doctor as soon as I can to verify that."

Kate stood and leaned over to hug her daughter. "Well this is excellent, congratulations," she turned to hug Rod next, "both of you."

"Thanks Kate, but we're not entirely sure how this is going to play out in terms of Mac's presidency."

"Well honey, if anyone can juggle all of that, it's you." She was genuinely happy for her daughter. She was slightly alarmed, she knew the risks involved in a pregnancy at her age. But she knew her daughter well, she took care of herself, and she would be here to watch over and help her as well.

The three celebrated and chatted a bit longer, until once again there was a knock at the door. A steward popped his head in and informed them that a Ms. Ludlow had arrived.

"Thanks, Sam."

Rod and Mac headed to meet Kelly, while Kate went to check on the kids. They both greeted Kelly and headed to the President's private study. It was a rather large office, painted a deep shade of green, with plush leather seating around an oak coffee table in one corner.

After that had taken a seat, Mac folded wrung her hands as she contemplated where to begin. Before she had a chance, Kelly broke the silence. "So, I suppose this has to do with," she trailed off.

"Yes, it does. I need your opinion on a few things, maybe you have a good idea about how to go about this without tipping off the press."

"Right, well first off, congratulations." Behind her expressed joy however, Kelly felt a twisting apprehension of what the future would hold for her President and the administration. Whatever the future held, it was not going to be an easy road.

**The End. Haha, just kidding, I'm just getting started. I'm not all that thrilled with this chapter, but I'm posting it none-the-less. Let me know what you think. - KP**


	5. Education and Cookies

**Greetings! I'm sorry for my absence, coincidentally coinciding with CiC's absence from my TiVo  But fear not! I'm back and the show is back Thursday at 10pm! **

Mac, Rod, and Kelly were gathered in the President's study for what would be some difficult problem-solving and decision-making.

"First off," Mac broke the silence, "I'm in no rush to make this public knowledge."

"And we need to have a doctor confirm it anyways," Rod interjected.

"Right, well," but Kelly was cut off.

"Well how am I going to get to the doctor's, we discussed this earlier."

"I don't know." Rod knew what they needed to do, but he didn't know how – none of them did.

"I mean, I get a paper-cut – it's news. How am I supposed to get to an OB/GYN without raising a hell of a lot of speculation?"

"Ma'am I think we could," but she was cut short again by Rod.

"Well you don't necessarily need to get to an OB/GYN right now, any doctor can confirm the pregnancy."

It appeared to Kelly that Mac and Rod were both nervous, and they were just going to keep talking if she didn't do something.

"Did you need me for this?" She made sure there was a sarcastic tone, she wasn't trying to be disrespectful. But this got the First Couple's attention.

"Sorry Kelly, you were saying?"

"Ma'am if I may, I think our safest bet is to get you down to Bethesda for your annual check-up. They can arrange to have an OB/GYN there without the press knowing."

"But I don't think that was on the schedule for another 3 months."

"We'll move it up. If we can make it look like now is the best time to get it done then there shouldn't be too much of a problem besides the initial 'is she okay?' questions, and maybe some minor speculation."

"I like it." Rod was satisfied.

"I'm always busy. How are we going to explain pushing something up 3 months."

"We don't need to, we just need to add something to the schedule that will take some prep time and need close attention in a few months." Rod was catching onto this logic. He thought it would work. And if it was good enough for Rod, then Mac figured it would work.

"Okay. So did you have anything in mind?"

This is where Kelly's plan stopped. They all remained silent for a moment until Rod chimed in. "A state visit."

"We have those all the time."

Kelly had it. "I know. Ma'am you've wanted to roll out your education plan for some time now. If we start work on it now and play it up in the press that would be perfect. And then in three months it will be September, the perfect time to go make some stops around the nation to drum up support for it."

"Not to mention the campaign will only get more demanding as we move forward."

Mac sighed, she didn't want to think about re-election right now. "Okay, we'll go with that for now. I'll have Vince move up my physical for sometime this week," she looked at Rod, "I want to know as soon as possible."

The three chatted for a bit longer before Kelly left. Amy was watching cartoons and the twins were doing homework, so Mac decided to run down to the office. She figured she should get some work done while she wasn't going to be sick so that she could afford to push back her morning schedule.

As she walked along the portico towards the Oval Office, it was a warm evening, so she took her time to enjoy the weather. Over the horizon, the city lights created a gentle glow. When she got to the Oval she sat in her chair, leaning back slightly and placing her palms on the surface of the desk. She looked around. She had been the President for many months now, and Vice President for even longer, but she was still awed by her surroundings. She appreciated the history of these walls, her walls – for surely she was making plenty of history.

She wondered what kind of effects a baby would have on that history. Would she have to give it all up? If she did would it be because they asked her to? Earlier she didn't want to think about reelection, but now the thought almost made her sick. She didn't know what to do – what she _wanted_ to do; and MacKenzie Allen couldn't remember a time in her life when that was true. She had always been so sure of everything. Even when she was just a child – she knew what she wanted, and she got it. In high school she knew, in college she knew. In Congress she knew what she wanted to be, and was willing to give it all up just to hold to her ideals. She had made such a difference while she was Chancellor at Richmond, because she had her goals for the school and she pursued them with ruthless efficiency.

And now, having achieved what many would call an ultimate goal – the Presidency of the United States, she didn't know what she wanted to do. She had never been so scared in her life. She turned to stare at the multitude of family pictures that crowded the table behind her desk. She was proud of her children, and proud of the job she and Rod had done as parents. But what would it be like to raise a child in the White House, if she was even given that chance? If she did two terms, the baby would spend its first 8 years deprived from seeing her more than she'd like, not to mention growing up in the nation, even international spotlight. That had to do a number on any child.

Mac pulled herself from her silent reverie, deciding there would be plenty of time for that later. Right now, she needed to manage this all the best she could. And that meant getting work done now. Vince had left a well-sized stack of files on her desk, presumably for the morning. She figured she could get that done at least. Mostly it was just menial paperwork, but she figured that if it made it all the way to her desk, someone had deemed it worthy of Presidential attention. She drew her reading glasses from a side drawer and got to work.

She had been working for quite a while, and it was so quiet in there that she nearly jumped when the door to the portico opened. In walked Amy, already in her pajamas with Kate close behind. Mac swung her chair around just in time to catch the little girl who had just leapt into her lap.

"Mommy," she almost sounded upset.

"Hey baby, what are you doing?"

"Grandma said I could come say goodnight, I thought you didn't have to come back to work?" And there was the reason for her distress. After realizing how quickly the time had passed Mac felt a little guilty. She didn't get to spend nearly as much time with her children as she used to, and on the night that she had been free, she elected to go back to work – how was this going to work with a newborn.

"Oh did she?" Mac shot a 'hello' smile towards Kate. She would never be able to put in words how grateful she was for her mother's presence. "I'll bet she also said you could have a few cookies before bed."

The youngster looked down, then her head shot back up, "how did you know!"

At this, Mac licked her thumb and wiped a smear of chocolate from the corner of her daughter's mouth, as all mothers do. "Oh." Amy knew she wasn't supposed to have a snack so close to bedtime, but she loved her grandma's cookies, and Kate always indulged her.

"Well do you think you could stay awake long enough for a story?" Mac already knew the answer to that question. Amy loved to read, and she loved to read with her mom even more.

The 6-year-old nearly flew off of Mac's lap, "Yes! Can we read Green Eggs and Ham?"

"I suppose." Mac stuffed a few more folders into her portfolio case and took Amy's hand.

Kate grabbed the other and looking at Mac said, "And maybe mom will have some cookies too."

Mac knew what this meant – she wanted to talk. With that the three made their way back to the Residence, hand-in-hand, with Mac's Secret Service agent in tow. Mac took a deep breath of the warm air knowing it was going to be a long few months ahead.

**Sorry if you think it's too short, a short chapter is better than no chapter in my opinion. Stay tuned for more, though I can't say exactly when. KP**


	6. More Cookies and Precious Moments

**Okay, so I conquered finals and have been on vacation for about 2 weeks. It's time to hit the ground running with this story…it took me some time to figure out where I wanted to go with it. I'll be honest – from the start I had planned on fixing it all with an accident and a miscarriage – but I love CiC too much for that (though I may write it in as an alternative ending). But you don't need to know all my plans just yet! Hopefully my vacation will be kind to you all and provide plenty of updates! Thank you all for your amazingly kind reviews! Now….on with the show!**

Once they made it back to the Residence Mac and Amy headed to the youngster's room to read _Green Eggs and Ham_ while Kate headed off towards the family kitchen to put a bit more of her fresh cookie dough into the oven.

About twenty minutes later, Kate was pulling the delicious morsels out of the oven when Mac walked in. She had changed again, this time into some black sweats and a Yale Law t-shirt. Kate thought back to the moment when her daughter first told her she would be going to law school – she was 7 and she had broken that news over a batch of cookies then too. Mac sat down at the table with a sigh.

"Tough day?" Kate asked as she brought a plate of chocolate chip cookies over to join the two glasses of milk already on the table.

"That doesn't even begin to describe it. It's no small thing to find out you're pregnant, but when you have to deal with an Iranian nuclear threat at the same time, well" she reached for a cookie, "no one should have to do that."

"I won't pretend to know what this is going to be like for you, but I do know that if anyone can do it, it's you."

Mac smiled, this was exactly what she needed right now – warm cookies and her mother telling her everything was going to be okay. "Thanks mom. Things aren't going to be easy. And what do we tell the kids."

"Becca and Horace will be fine - "

"Yeah, but I'm worried about Amy. She is quite content with being the baby in this family, and I know she misses me."

"She does." Kate didn't have any silver lining to apply to that cloud. It was true, Mac didn't see the kids as much as she used to, but they all understood. Even Amy got that her mom had the most important job in the world. That, of course, didn't mean that they liked it, but they understood – and that was all the hope she could give to her daughter. "But Mac sweetie, they understand. We all do."

"Yeah." Then why did she feel so guilty?

The two talked for a while longer, mostly about Mac's fears of pregnancy. Before she could even worry about having a child as the President of the United States, she had to worry about having a child at her age. But taking her Presidency into account, she had no doubt she would get the best and most attentive medical care available. When Mac managed to stifle a second yawn, Kate realized her daughter needed to go to sleep – she was not going to be responsible for a groggy and therefore cranky President come the morning.

Mackenzie enveloped her mother in a tight hug and kissed her cheek before heading off to bed. It was 11:30, and she couldn't remember the last time she had been able to go to sleep so early. She figured it must have been years ago, or at least it felt that way. Before going to bed however, she felt the need to check on her children. First she snuck into Amy's room, the youngster was already fast asleep. She gently brushed a wisp of hair from her cheek and kissed her forehead. As she watched the six-year-old sleeping peacefully, she thought back to when she found out they would be having a third child.

The twins were nine and she had just left Congress. She and Rod had not been planning on having another kid, but they weren't trying to prevent it either. Rod had just come home with news that he made partner at the Richmond law firm he had been working at for years. He was so excited she almost didn't tell him that night – she didn't want to steal his thunder. But she told him on the ride home from the restaurant they had gone to celebrate at, the twins were paying no attention in the backseat. He almost had to pull over he was so happy. Mac pulled herself from herself from her thoughts and kissed Amy's forehead one more time before quietly leaving the room.

Her next stop was he son's room, she figured he would still be up, and she was right. Her son was smart, but didn't always apply himself. He was a procrastinator just like his father, and just as she guessed he looked like he had just sat down to finish his homework.

"You know, if you did that when you got home you wouldn't have to keep yourself up half the night trying to finish it."

"But then I'd have to stay up half the night chilling out, and I'd rather do that before homework."

Mac laughed, she knew 15-year-olds could rationalize almost anything and decided not to argue. He would learn, eventually. "What are you doing?" She walked over to his desk to peek over his shoulder.

"Algrebra," he answered in a monotone voice, signaling his complete lack of enthusiasm.

"Need any help? I used to be good with numbers."

"Thanks but I got it, it's just time consuming, not hard. I don't even know why we have to learn all this stuff. I mean, come on mom when was the last time you used a multi-variable equation to solve a problem?"

And with that, Mac had him. "All the time." Horace turned and gave her an incredulous look. "Really, let's see. Cost-benefit analysis – very handy in my job. I have to measure the costs and benefits of every decision I make to try and figure out the best outcome. And sometimes there are factors that affect those costs or benefits – it can become a pretty complicated equation."

Horace was just looking at her now, he couldn't argue with that so he decided to drop it. It still didn't mean he had to like algebra. Mac knew she had won and so decided to let her son get to work. She ruffled his hair before heading out.

"Night baby."

"Goodnight mom."

On the way to Becca's room she realized that she didn't know if the girl would be awake or not. That's when the guilt really hit her. She knew her son would be up doing work, but she didn't know about his twin sister? She and Becca hadn't always seen eye-to-eye and it actually made her respect her daughter more, but to not know what her daughter would be doing, she felt a bit disappointed with herself.

When she opened the door to her older daughter's room it was dark inside. The light from the hallway shined in and she saw her daughter close her eyes. Mac really felt guilty now, her daughter would rather pretend to be sleeping than to see her.

"Becca, you awake?" Mac whispered, though she knew the girl was indeed awake.

No response. She decided to let her pretend if she wanted to. She walked up to her bed and leaned over. Just as she had with Amy, she brushed a wisp of hair from her face and kissed her forehead.

"I'm so proud of you, I hope you know that. And I love you."

With that she quietly shut the door and waited. She heard the sheets move as Becca rolled over. 'Good' she thought, 'she needed to hear that.'

Mac finally made it to she and Rod's room where her husband was reading in bed. Without any words she crawled into bed and snuggled up into his arms. She felt so safe there, like nothing could go wrong. He kissed her forehead and shut off the bedside lamp, and together the fell asleep, preparing to face a new day of challenges.

**I'm sorry it's short, but I wanted to get something out. Bad news about the show  It appears to have been cancelled. ABC will be showing the last few episodes in June on Wednesday nights. There are also talks about doing a network movie to wrap things up. If you want, write to ABC and try to get it back, I have. They may bring it back if ratings for the last episodes and even the movie are good.**


	7. Scheduling

**This may be my fastest turn-around time for updates yet. Don't you just love summer break (my condolences to all those readers who no longer get to experience the joys of such a phenomena). Sorry if the story is moving a bit slow, but I have a tendency to be wordy and thus draw things out. We'll be heading to the doctor's in the next chapter. And now, on with the show. **

Mac woke first the next morning…5:28 am, she hated it when she woke up just minutes before her alarm was to go off. She untangled herself from Rod and reached over to the alarm clock. She reset the time to 6:15 and snuggled back into bed, surprisingly Rod hadn't even stirred.

Mac fell into a light sleep for about a half hour until she felt that vaguely familiar feeling in the pit of her stomach. "Here we go again," she mumbled to herself launching herself out of the bed and into the bathroom.

Rod finally woke when Mackenzie leaped out of bed, and without thinking he asked, "what's wrong?" He knew it was stupid the moment the words left his mouth but it was too late…we heard his wife getting sick and then moments later she peered out from the door to their bathroom.

"What's wrong? What's wrong is that _your_ child is already making me sick."

Mackenzie never did well with morning sickness, in her other two pregnancies the mornings of her first trimester had been the worst. Mackenzie Allen was not a fan of getting sick. She never drank too much because she hated the after effects, she didn't like roller coasters because of the nausea it caused her. She avoided anything she knew to present the slightest chance of her ending up getting sick. So when it came to the routine challenges of morning sickness, Mac Allen met it with the meanest of wit and sarcasm, and Rod knew that no one was safe from her wrath.

"Sorry, I didn't think."

"Rod!" She threw her arms in the air dramatically, "neither of us thought -"

"I meant about the question. Come here," he moved to sit on the edge of the bed and opened his arms to his wife. She came over and sat comfortably into his arms. "I told you, everything is going to be fine. And at the risk of my own life may I point out that it's still early morning, it looks like you may not need to your morning schedules back as far as you thought."

Mac just turned her head and glared up at him. She knew he was right – and that is was probably a good thing. If she only had to push everything back about an hour to accommodate the morning sickness things wouldn't be so bad.

"I'm going to schedule the doctor's appointment today, do you want to come with me?"

"I do, but honey, wouldn't it look a little strange if I went to your yearly physical with you?"

"Oh, right. Sorry."

"Once the media finds out, I'll go to every single appointment with you."

"I better get ready for work, I don't know what Jim did with my schedule for today." Mac gave Rod a peck on the cheek and headed back into the bathroom. When she emerged in her Presidential bathrobe, she headed into her closet and chose a navy blue suit with a light blue shirt, she went back into the bathroom to dry her hair and do her makeup before she headed out to the grand staircase to make her way to work.

Rod looked over at the clock, this time it was almost 7. He would have to get the kids up soon. "So much for sleeping in."

Vince was surprised to see the President walk in at 7 am, Jim had told him the President wouldn't be in until at least 8 that morning. He wondered why the schedule was being changed but didn't make anything of it, he figured the President just still wasn't feeling well. He had been chatting at his desk with an intern, Debbie when the President came in from the portico to the outer office. He felt silly getting caught off guard, he didn't even have her morning coffee.

"Morning Vince, could I see you in my office for a minute?"

Vince thought he was in trouble, he didn't want to use excuses but she was an hour early. When she asked him to shut the door he got even more worried. Mac went around to her desk and sat down.

"Ma'am I'm sorry, I didn't…"

"Oh," Mac realized he was probably confused as to her motives, "sorry Vince, I know I'm early. Actually I need you to do something for me."

Vince was relieved to say the least, he knew the President wouldn't make a big deal out of what he thought of as a screw up, but he had been more cautious in his relationship with her since she had rebuked him for hiding his HIV from her. "Yes ma'am, what can I do?"

"Well, I haven't told anyone yet so I need this to be kept to only your self, neither my children nor anyone on the staff but Kelly know about this."

"Okay."

"I need you to call Bethesda, set up an appointment for me to have my physical."

"That's already on the schedule for a few months from now ma'am, is something wrong?"

"Yes, well no. Vince, I want you to speak directly with the physician I will be seeing. Tell him that I have requested he quietly have an OB/GYN doctor present."

Vince connected the dots. The President getting sick yesterday, the schedule being pushed back, the secrecy. President Allen was pregnant, and he wouldn't let her down.

"Yes ma'am, is there any specific time?"

"Tomorrow if possible."

"I think they'll be happy to make room for you." Of course they would, she was the President of the United States, and as Bethesda was the Naval hospital, their Commander in Chief.

"Thank you. Now what did we do with my schedule for today?" She was a bit surprised Vince didn't question her further. She knew he would obviously know what was going on, but she expected him to actually verbalize it, after all it was a big deal.

"Well ma'am," Vince looked down at the Official Schedule he held in his hands, he had just finished printing it. They had all learned by now that by the time the second or third item on the agenda had been complete they may very well rip the rest of the schedule to pieces. "You have the security briefing at 8:05, senior staff in the Oval at 8:27, and they'll be ready for you in the Situation Room by 8:45. Should I go on?"

"No, there's no point. Okay is there anything I can do right now?"

"No ma'am you signed the rest of the papers last night, they were on my desk this morning."

"Okay, then I guess I'll run back up to the Residence, have breakfast with the kids. I'll be back here at 8, see if you can't have the CIA director and NSA here by then."

"Yes ma'am, thank you. I'll let you know as soon as I speak with Bethesda."

"Thanks Vince." With that she left the Oval with a smile on her face, happy for the chance to have breakfast with her family, if only all her morning could be so easy. Although she knew it was going to get harder – surely Iran had not gone away overnight.

On weekdays, the White House staff usually cooked meals for the First Family, Kate or Mac preferred to cook at least breakfast on the weekends. So this Wednesday morning, the family was just sitting down to breakfast in the dining room. Amy was happy to see her mom, Becca was a bit surprised, and Horace just looked tired.

"Looks like that algebra did a number on you baby," she said to Horace with a satisfied smirk on her face as she squeezed Rod's hand and sat down next to him.

"Yeah, yeah," Horace just grumbled.

"You really need to learn some time management young man," Rod knew from experience the putting things off would eventually come back to bite you. If it hadn't been for his girlfriend in law school, a one Mackenzie Allen, he may have never made it through alive.

"Yeah Horace, junior year is going to be even harder next year," Becca chimed in, who was the exact opposite of her twin brother when it came to school – she always came home with straight A's. She took after her mother, though she would never admit to it.

"How many more weeks until you all are out for summer?" It dawned on both Mac and Rod that they were going to have to find a way to keep their kids occupied outside of school – as much as they hated it, the kids didn't have as much freedom since Mac became President.

"Three," all three of the Calloway children answered immediately. These were important things to know in school, just like knowing which teachers would let you slide in late, the exact location of certain stores in the mall, and which classes you had to get work in on time for.

"Where are we going for vacation this year?" Amy was eager to know where they would go, the Calloway family went somewhere together every summer. Mac hadn't been President last summer and though she was still Vice President they managed to work out a trip to Disney World.

"Um," Mac looked at Rod, how was she going to manage this one, and the only place they could really go was "Camp David?"

"We're all going to go to camp?"

"No Amy, it's a place in the mountains with cabins and a swimming pool and lots of other stuff."

"We'll see, but right now you all have to get to school." Mac kissed each of them on the cheek as they headed out with their service details.

"What are you doing today?" Mac asked Rod. Since he had gone back to the First Gentleman's office, he'd been pretty quiet. Mac wanted him to be happy.

"I'm meeting with a legislative advisor today. See if I can't come up with an issue I'd like to take on." With that answer she knew he was happy, and she was happy for him, he was finally taking this position and making it his own.

"That's great!"

"Yeah."

"Okay, well you know where to find me." With that she headed back down to the Oval Office for her Security briefing and prepared herself for a hectic day.

When she got back to the Oval Vince told her she would be going to Bethesda at 9the next morning and that everything had been arranged. Now she just had to deal with Iran and prepare herself for the news she already knew was coming.

**That's all for today – maybe! Thanks for all the reviews, I smile with each one. CiC is back next Wednesday night on ABC, here's to hoping it's back for next fall!**


	8. Here We Go

**Here's the latest chapter – I know I said the hospital trip would come next, but I got ahead of myself. And while I could just make it longer, I'd rather update more frequently. I'll try not to get too far into this Iran thing, but it was kind of the focus of my studies last semester so I can't promise anything down the road. **

**I don't say it enough –but to all those who have reviewed: thank you! You each bring a smile to my face. **

Mac listened intently during her security briefing, it was only the beginning of what she would be hearing in the Situation Room. After 2 hours of being briefed in the Sit Room later that morning she had decided to remain on the diplomatic path. Although a nuclear Iran was one of her greatest nightmares, she knew they were years away from actually developing the weapons. She wanted to make calls to the other four permanent members of the UN Security Council before she made took any visible actions. She asked John Reddinger, her Secretary of State, to take point on the issue and keep her updated.

The rest of her day consisted of meetings with various law makers and members of her staff. The day seemed to drag by for Mackenzie Allen, who was eager to wake up to the next day and get to Bethesda. She found her mind wandering later in the day and found herself reading the same pages of her briefs over and over again. She looked at her watch, it was already 7 pm. She was surprised, if she hadn't known better she would have thought it was still mid-afternoon. She decided it was time to head back up to the Residence, she had probably missed dinner.

She gathered the briefs that were still in her 'to read' pile and stuffed them into her briefcase. She took her glasses off and left them on the desk before walking out to the outer office. As she headed for the door to the portico she noticed Vince was still at his desk, "Go home Vince, I'll see you in the morning."

Vince stood up, "Thank you ma'am, have a good night – the motorcade will be ready at 8:45."

"Thanks." With that she stepped out onto the portico and headed towards the residence, noticing her agent was still at the portico door to the oval office she shouted over her shoulder, "Let's go home John."

When she got back to the residence she told Rod about her appointment and grabbed some food from the kitchen, Kate had left her plate after the family had eaten. She went to her study, turned it to MSNBC and pulled out the remainder of her day's reading. The only thing she had left were a few briefs and the memos she had asked various members of her staff to draft about possibilities for her new education plan.

Normally she delegated the responsibility of being point person on a project to a senior staffer, but this was something she wanted to oversee personally. She had a unique appreciation for the education system, having been the product of a public school education, the Chancellor of a university and now having 3 children in public schools.

After spending more than an hour going through the memos and a few more briefs, Mac decided it was time to unwind and relax, she knew she wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight. Which to her seemed odd, she knew what she was going to hear come morning, yet she was still filled with a range of emotions: apprehension, excitement, anxiety. There was still a small piece of her thinking she may actually not be pregnant, and she wasn't sure whether to be afraid or hopeful of hearing such news. So Mackenzie spent the rest of her evening with her family, which was a nice change for her. By midnight she was left to herself and decided to watch TV - a rare event for her - until she felt ready to fall asleep. She had seen all the day's news stories and so she decided to browse the television. It was ironic then that she wound up watching C-SPAN for the next hour until she finally decided it would be best to try and get some sleep.

She woke three hours later to the red numbers on her bedside clock reading 4:17, she rolled over with a sigh. She could easily get by with three hours of sleep, but that didn't mean she wanted to. Today was going to be tough, yes she was having some of the biggest news of her life become official, but she also had to carry out the rest of her day as normal – Presidents don't get to just take a day off. She stared blankly at the ceiling, getting lost in her thoughts until about 5 am. Not being able to lay there in silence any longer, Mac decided to go for a swim.

She made her way down to the pool, secret service detail in tow. She really wanted to go rowing, but she needed to give the Service some sort of a heads up to do that, right now her once a week morning row was not going to be enough to clear her head. She felt odd when she counted at least eight men setting up a perimeter around the outdoor pool, and she knew there were more she couldn't see watching her. She had felt odd about being surrounded by armed men and women from the moment she was provided a small detail in the late stages of the campaign trail – now as President, it seemed her "shadows" had nearly tripled in numbers. She wasn't the greatest fan of the Secret Service, though she understood their necessity and was awed by their commitment. She also knew her children were especially not too keen on their protectors, so she wondered how it would be for her next child to (hopefully) spend at least its first seven years of life in their presence, not to mention having to grow up on the national stage. All this was spinning trough her head as she coursed up and down the lanes of the pool.

As she was doing her laps she saw what looked like one of her agents come closer to the pool, thinking something was wrong she stopped. It was actually her husband, already dressed in his suit for the day. He held up her robe as she stepped from the water. He didn't say anything, he didn't need to, he just put his arm around her shoulder and led her back to the Residence. Once they were alone in their bedroom he finally spoke.

"Are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be, are you?"

"Always."

Mac didn't need him to say anymore. "What do you want to do about telling the kids?"

"I don't know, we should wait until they're out of school – maybe when we go to Camp David?"

"If we ever make it there, I don't think we'll be able to take a week-long vacation for the next few years."

"Why not, you can easily work out of Camp David. We'll take a few days for just family and then spend as many days beyond that as you can."

"You sir," she walked up closer to him, grabbing his tie, "have all the answers, don't you?"

"Well someone has to." For that Mac displayed a faux shocked expression and playfully slapped his chest.

"You'll pay for that."

"Oh, really."

"Yes. I was going to…"but she stopped.

"You were going to what?" But Mac was already on her way into the bathroom. Rod looked at the clock it was 6:12. Mackenzie Allen was always consistent, he gave her that.

Mackenzie finally reappeared around the corner, "As I was saying, I was going to ask you to work on my education plan with me, but I guess I'll have to reconsider." She had decided last night that since Rod had gone back to the First Gentleman's office, they hadn't worked on anything together. Especially while she was pregnant, it would be good to have him around a bit more, and education was something he too held dear to his heart.

"Really? You want our offices to work together on that? That would be great Mac, in fact the legislative advisor I met with the other day recommended I work on an issue with you to get my agenda jump-started."

"Yes, I do." She kissed him on the lips, "I don't want to shut you out of the West Wing all together." They shared a few more kisses before Mac finally decided she needed to get ready for the day.

The President made it to the Oval Office by 7:30 that morning, giving her more than enough time for a security briefing and senior staff meeting before she left for Bethesda.

She made it through both meetings without distraction and was finishing her notes for the upcoming meeting about her education plan when Vince appeared in the door to the Oval.

"Ma'am the motorcade is ready."

Even though she had been anticipating this for over a day, she suddenly felt reluctant. "Okay." She continued to work on her notes. A few minutes had passed when Vince reappeared.

"Ma'am the motorcade…"

"I don't think they're going to leave without me Vince."

This silenced him for a moment, until he realized that the President was stalling.

"Ma'am, if…" but he didn't need to finish, she had finally put down her work and was headed towards him.

Mac made her way down to the northwest entrance where the motorcade would be waiting. On her way to Bethesda Naval Hospital she spoke to Kelly over the phone.

"Any questions yet, Kelly?"

"A few casual questions from reporters. No one seems too alarmed or too suspicious. They're mostly just wanting to know if there is a health-related problem or reason for changing the schedule."

"Great, you know what to say. We should be done in about an hour, you'll be over here to field questions?"

"Yes ma'am, I'll be heading over soon."

Kelly had stayed behind to keep her normal briefing schedule, and would meet the President at Bethesda to accommodate the medical team in making their statements about the Commander in Chief's health.

"Thanks Kelly."

"Thank you Madam President."

She watched the cityscape fly by the rest of the way. Vince rode in the car with her, and was silent until they pulled up at the Naval Hospital. "Ma'am, I meant to say this yesterday: Congratulations."

Make gave her aide and friend a warm smile before stepping out of the door that had just been opened for her. She was greeted by a small group of doctors, all wearing khaki uniforms under long white lab coats; some with stethoscopes hanging around their necks, others with various diagnostic tools protruding from their coat pockets.

Mac straightened her suit coat, took a deep breath and began shaking hands. '_Here we go_,' she thought before entering the hospital with the medical team and secret service.


	9. All the Presiden'ts Doctors

Mac was taken upstairs by her team of doctors they crowded into the elevator. When they arrived at their destination, the doors opened to reveal several more doctors and nurses; there were experts from nearly every specialty she could think of. A gray-haired man stepped forward holding his hand out.

"Madam President, I'm Dr. Alston, Chief of Medicine here at Bethesda."

Mac shook his hand, "Pleasure." She didn't really know what to say 'thanks in advance for all the poking and prodding you're about to do?' And while she knew she was the most powerful person in the room, hell the world, she felt slightly intimidated by all these doctors. She was soon led to a very nice exam room, she'd been in this room before. As Vice President she received the same annual exam at Bethesda as the President, but this was her first annual exam as President, and she knew there would be greater scrutiny.

For the next hour she was seen by several specialists, and was run through several tests. They took enough blood, in her opinion, to stock an empty blood bank. The last doctor in had informed she would be going to radiology next. With that she panicked, she was pregnant, she couldn't expose herself like that.

Noticing the panic that crossed the President's face for just a moment the doctor asked, "Ma'am is something wrong?"

She didn't want to tell this doctor, while he would probably respect her privacy, she wanted to keep this between as few people as possible. "I need to see Dr. Alston before we do that please."

Curious, but not about to question his Commander in Chief, he simply nodded and left. A moment later Dr. Alston came in, apparently he didn't know about the request Vince had made. "Ma'am is something wrong?"

"Shut the door please." Mac slipped into her President mode, taking charge of the situation and refusing to be shy about this. "Five days ago I became sick in a morning meeting. Four days ago I tested positive on a pregnancy test." She couldn't think of any way to approach this but head-on.

Dr. Alston blinked. "I see."

"Doctor, I want this to be kept between as few people as possible, I'm sure you can understand my need for privacy."

He couldn't even imagine, "Of course Madam President, just let me get Dr. Kincaid in here, he's our chief of neonatology." Dr. Alston walked over to the phone and dialed a number. They waited in silence for a few moments. "Ma'am, forgive me if this is inappropriate but, are you thinking of…"

He didn't need to finish. Mac knew he was asking if she planned on going through with the pregnancy. "Dr. Alston, I brought you in here before they brought me to radiology, I'm having this baby."

"Of course, I'm sorry."

The two were saved from too much awkward silence when Dr. Kincaid arrived. He was a bit nervous. His pager had simply read "POTUS suite." After entering the President was holding out her hand.

"Dr. Kincaid,"

"Madam President, a pleasure."

"Doctor, I'm going to tell you something that only precious few know right now. I'd like to keep this quiet for now."

"Ma'am anything you tell me is privileged."

"Yes, but not to the rest of the medical team, I need this to stay in the room." He didn't say anything. "Four days ago I found out I was pregnant."

He didn't know what to say, so he simply said what he says to all his new patients, "congratulations."

"Thank you. I need you to confirm that and tell me where we go from there."

"Absolutely."

After Drs. Kincaid and Alston examined the President, they confirmed that she was indeed pregnant. "You're about 6 weeks along, have you been experiencing any morning sickness?"

"Yes."

"Tell me about your previous pregnancies."

After talking for another 20 minutes Dr. Kincaid became more familiar with his new patient, and was able to see her as just that. He explained to her the possible risks of having a child in her late 40's but assured her that it was in no way an impossible or even life-threatening event with proper medical supervision.

"I'd like to see you regularly ma'am. I could come to the White House if it would be less conspicuous that way."

"I'm not sure yet, the press has a keen eye on all who come into the building. I'll have to get back to you on the details, how often are you thinking."

"Right now every 3 or 4 weeks, possibly more often later."

"Alright, you'll be hearing from me by the end of the week as to how we need to do this." She looked each of the doctors in the eye for a moment before continuing, "and please, this cannot be known to anyone, I will announce it when the time is right, I'd appreciate you keeping this to yourselves and out of any written records."

"Of course, I'll be leaving now, I look forward to hearing from you, and again congratulations." With that Dr. Kincaid left.

Mac turned to Dr. Alston, "I like him."

Dr. Alston simply gave a slight chuckle, "I suppose that's a good thing, you'll be seeing him often Madam President. I'm going to cancel your radiology tests, which means we're finished. Everything looks great, I'll pronounce you in excellent health. Keep up the exercise and make sure you continue to eat well."

Mac stood and shook the man's hand, it was time to go talk to the press. And while she wasn't going to lie, she wouldn't do that, she had some evasive maneuvers to make and some information to leave out.

She would talk to Rod, but she wanted the rest of her senior staff to know soon, and of course the kids – that would be a separate adventure. She was worried that Amy may not be able to keep such a secret before they were ready to announce it – she would have to ask Rod and Kate's opinions about that one.

She walked down to a small conference room where she and her doctors could meet with Kelly before they spoke to the press. It was just a routine statement made by her medical team and herself to let the nation know that their leader was 'fit for duty.'

After drafting their official letter and signing it, Mac, Kelly and four of her doctors headed downstairs and out to the front where both the motorcade and the press were waiting. The group stepped over to the waiting journalists to make their statements.

10 minutes later Mac, Kelly, and Vince were in the Presidential limo on their way back to the White House. Mac was hoping she would have time to speak with Rod when she got back before diving back into work. "Vince, what's on the schedule when we get back?"

Vince pulled out his portfolio with the President's official schedule. "Actually ma'am," he started, glancing at his watch "it looks like we're about 45 minutes ahead of schedule, you don't have your meeting with the Senate leadership until 1:30."

"Excellent," she looked out the window as the White House came into view. "Josh," she asked her agent up front," let's go back to the Residence."

"Yes ma'am" came the monotone reply from her agent. She watched as he spoke into his microphone, obviously making the change she requested. Just before they got out of the car Mac told Vince she'd be downstairs by 1:15, and with that they went their separate ways, Mac to see her husband, and Vince and Kelly back to the West Wing.

Josh and Mike walked her to the entrance to the Residence where they took up their posts; it was the one part of the building they didn't have to follow her through, which she liked. She was glad of this, the Residence was her home for now, and where she enjoyed time with her family – she liked it to seem as normal as possible, inside these walls she was just Mackenzie Allen wife, mother, and daughter.

**Sorry all, I was on vacation for a while. I should have one more chapter up before I take a small hiatus because I have to send my computer away to get fixed and head up to summer school. Don't worry, I'll continue to write through school if all goes as planned. Unfortunately for you, I'm going to stop apologizing for my short chapters – it's as far as I can get before my ADHD-like creativity loses interest for the day.**


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